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IGF NRIs VM XIab

The eleventh virtual meeting of the National and Regional IGF Initiatives (NRIs), took place on 9 August. The IGF Secretariat hosted two meetings on the same subject agenda, in order to accommodate NRIs participants from different time zones. Meetings were hosted on the mentioned date at 9:00 a.m. UTC and at 13: p.m. UTC. This report reflects major outcomes from both meetings.

Meeting was hosted by Anja Gengo from the IGF Secretariat. The agenda is attached to this document as Annex A1 and a list of Meeting Participants as Annex A2. List of input documents is attached as Annex A3.

Updates from the NRIs

From the IGF-USA it was said that there will be a debrief during the week, focused on the improvements for the next year’s annual meeting. The 2017 meeting report should be finalized in the days ahead, and will be shared with the NRIs list. It was reminded that ‘news light reports’ done by the Elon University are available on the IGF-USA website.

On behalf of the Armenia IGF, it was said that the next annual meeting will be in October. The meeting agenda will be published as soon finalized.

It was announced that a national IGF in Nicaragua is under development.

The first IGF of Morocco is under planning to have its first annual meeting hosted in this year.

On behalf of the China IGF, it was said that they will collaborate with the Japan IGF and Kenya IGF on co-organizing the collaborative session on the IPv6 topic. The first annual meeting will be in the next year, and preparations are underway with having the Call for Proposals open.

From Colombia IGF it was said that the next annual meeting is planned to be in October this year. This year’s meeting will be focused on the infrastructure, fake news, environment and digital security.

It was noted that the Portugal IGF will be in Lisbon in September this year.

It was briefed that the national IGF of Mexico should be in November this year.

The Netherlands IGF reported that their annual meeting will be on 10 October and that preparations are underway.

The next Caribbean IGF will be hosted from 21 to 23 in British Virgin Islands. There will be three remote hubs installed, and the IGF Secretariat will participate.

From the recently held West African IGF in Benin, it was said that the key focus of the meeting was online trust, thus the reason of this initiative’s interest to collaborate with other NRIs and co-organize sessions.

NRIs Collaborative Sessions

The Host explained that the next virtual meeting of the IGF MAG will be on 15 August at 12:00 p.m. UTC, and that the IGF Secretariat will need to provide an update on the programme of the IGF 2017 annual meeting, which includes the NRIs related activities. For this purpose, the NRIs were asked to put efforts in finalizing the process on the collaborative session proposals.

Present NRIs reviewed all submitted proposals, and noted that there are many similarities between submissions. Because of this, it was suggested to have these proposals clustered into major areas of interest and invite interested NRIs to cooperate on incorporating all those aspects in one thematic session.

The Host reminded that these proposals were initially clustered into defined major areas of interest, for the purposes of submitting it to the MAG. Participants advised to have those tags reviewed, and to assign new proposals to it. The final list of tags was agreed to be as follows:

Fake News

Cybersecurity

Rights Online

Digital currency

Access

Gender equality

New emerging technologies

New emerging IG issues

Internet Governance and Sustainable Development

Youth Inclusion

Internet Governance Ecosystem: challenges and ways for improvemen

Exchanging views on IG

Safe(er) Internet

Child protection

It was suggested and agreed that proposals that have support from two and more NRIs, be reviewed on the call and tags assigned. The Secretariat has been asked to communicate further with the NRIs that expressed interest for similar topics, for further work on developing these proposals.

As some of the NRIs indicated their support to many proposals, it was agreed to ask those NRIs to prioritize top three, so that the partnering process can be done more smoothly.

Many advised that the co-organizers should include different substantive aspects related to one thematic tag, with noting that the co-organizers should be cautious about not duplicating the session content with other sessions (workshops, open forums, dynamic coalitions etc.).

In regards to the timeline, many expressed their concerns that they will not be able to comply with the deadlines set by the IGF Secretariat (15 August). This is mainly due to the fact that many members of organizing committee of various NRIs are on holiday, or the consultations require more time, as some NRIs would like to consult the wider community and take time for internal coordination between the NRIs with whom they potentially will partner, before developing final proposal. Based on this, the Host expressed the understanding for all these reasons, and asked the NRIs that can respect the deadline, to do so. As for others, the Host will consult with the IGF Secretariat’s team on the extension and inform the network as soon as possible. Many NRIs advised for the more realistic deadline to be between the end of August and the first half of September.

The Host asked the participants to look at the IGF workshop proposal form, and advise if it can be used for the NRIs collaborative session proposals (Annex A3). Many noted that it can be used, with slight adjustments. These are the following:

Field ‘Interventions’ should be replaced with ‘Engagement with the participants’.

In the ‘Diversity’ filed, a note should be added to explain that it means geographical diversity, and diversity among the NRIs.

In line with the field ‘Session format’, a work ‘timing’ should be added.

Segment reflecting the connection to the IGF intersessional work should be updated so it reflects the: IGF Best Practice Forums, Dynamic Coalitions and Connecting and Enabling the Next Billion(s).

A note on the reporting requirements after the annual meeting, should be added.

Participants asked that each field has a short explanation of what is required to be inserted.

All above was taken into account. The Host was asked to adjust the proposal accordingly and share with the NRIs network for further consultations.

Next Steps

The IGF Secretariat will assigning all initiatives to the tags, as per their submitted proposals, after the meeting.

Initiatives that are assigned to the same tag, will be contacted within group emails, and ask for further advice on potential collaboration on one topic.

A full summary report will be sent to the NRIs mailing list.

Next meeting: The Secretariat will distribute the Doodle poll for the members of the NRIs to cast the votes for the best time slots for the next virtual meeting. In the meantime, a doodle poll for the NRIs to indicate if they will attend the IGF 2017 meeting will be sent and remained open until the IGF annual meeting itself.

For any suggestions or questions regarding the Report, kindly contact the IGF Secretariat, NRIs Focal Point at: [email protected].

ANNEX A1:

National and Regional IGF Initiatives (NRIs)AGENDA:Virtual Meeting XI, 9 August 2017, at 9:00 a.m. UTC and at 13:00 p.m. UTC